News To UseK E N T U C K Y A D U L T E D U C A T I O N

October 2016

Kentucky Adult Education1024 Capital Center Drive

Suite 250Frankfort, KY 40601

(502) 573-5114www.kyae.ky.gov

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County Profile Reports

SRNA pilot shows promising results

Counties share increased retention ideas

Important implementation guidance letters

New KYAE staff member

Stagnolia to lead national group

ELL coordinator receives award

CCR SIA pilot news

AE instructor nominated for award

Resources

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Campbell Carroll Carter, Elliott, Greenup, Martin, Menifee

Christian, Todd Franklin Grayson

Hardin Larue Logan

Marion Mason Russell Simpson

18 counties have “Program of Excellence” in FY16Pictured below with Cody Davidson and Reecie Stagnolia are: Tricia Rohe (for Nichole Braun), Cristina Marsh, Tessa Love, Gary Dawson, Dani Smith-Thorne, Dianne Bratcher, Diane Kelley, Connie Goff, Pam Morgan, John Sparrow, Sherry Stacy, Darren Gossage and Brian Becker.

During fiscal year 2016, 18 KYAE counties achieved “Program of Excellence” status, meaning they met all three performance metrics (GED® attainment, level gains, academic performance). Banners were awarded during a recent program director’s meeting.

KYAE News to Use October 20162

Kentucky Adult Education County Profiles Report has been releasedA new report produced by the Kentucky Center for

Education and Workforce Statistics (KCEWS) allows you to review data related to adult education in Kentucky, your local WIB and your county.

The Kentucky Adult Education County Profiles Report is based upon the cohort of 22,942 GED® graduates from fiscal years 2009 to 2011; they were followed through fiscal year 2014. The report features basic data about your county/local WIB’s residents, as well as more specific information about the individuals enrolled in adult education. Some of the most significant and helpful data is related to transition to postsecondary and workforce outcomes.

Cody Davidson, KYAE director of administrative leadership, says, “This report from KCEWS provides excellent baseline data; it is a report that will be updated on a regular basis.” He explains, “You have to go back to the 2009-11 cohort to have enough of a time horizon to capture future outcomes. In other words, students need enough time to earn the GED®, then go to college, then finish college to be able to report on what credentials they earned. Additionally, you have to allow time for this data to be collected, cleaned, processed and moved through all the necessary partners to be able to compile the data.”

The report utilizes data from the Kentucky Longitudinal Data System. KCEWS collects and integrates education and workforce data so that policy

makers, practitioners and the public can make better informed decisions.

“The Kentucky Adult Education County Profiles Report provides a greater and deeper understanding of how adult education students from all across the state of Kentucky are finding success in college and in the workforce,” says Reecie Stagnolia, vice president for adult education. “It underscores the need for us to continue to pave the way for our GED® graduates to pursue postsecondary education. I look forward to seeing future reports and witnessing our progress in this and other areas.”

To read the report in its entirety, please visit http://kcews.ky.gov.

Kentucky Adult Education partnered with the Southcentral Kentucky Area Health Education Center (SC KY AHEC) to launch a State Registered Nurse Aide (SRNA) pilot program. The pilot offered contextualized healthcare curriculum (developed and delivered by participating adult education instructors) with simultaneous instruction in an SRNA program (facilitated by an RN).

Adult education students from Hardin, Larue, Marion and Meade counties participated in the pilot. Out of 15 who began the program, 10 finished it, including one pregnant student whose water broke during the last day of clinicals. All 10 completing participants passed the written assessment; eight of the 10 passed the skills test. The two who didn’t pass the skills test are receiving remediation and will retest.

SRNA pilot has promising results

Five of the 10 participants completing the SRNA pilot are pictured at the graduation ceremony held on August 21. The program’s graduates were: Nakisha Allen, Lesley Bennett, Amber Downs, LaQuitta Logan, Christina Perkins, Brittany Spiced, Mariah Steele, Sheaela Warner, Jessica Wechter and Leigh White.

Scheduled, group orientation and classes contribute to increased retention, programs discover

KYAE News to Use October 20163

In our center, with such low numbers, it is very tempting to drop everything we are doing as soon as someone walks through the door and states that they would like to start working on their GED®. With the best of intentions, we would make every effort to let them know that they were a priority and that we were very excited to help them immediately begin pursuing their goals. However, in spite of all this, we noticed that our retention numbers were disappointing.

Recently, we have adjusted our yearly calendar to be scheduled around a series of four-week class sessions, with a week of orientation and testing between each session. The risk that we took was that, if students were expected to wait a few weeks to begin their studies, then we may lose them altogether. However, with just a simple reminder call a few days beforehand, we have not found this to be the case. In fact, the encouraging find has been that, with students beginning the process in groups, they have the opportunity to establish bonds with each other that have aided in retention, as well as provided ongoing encouragement and support for them.

- Stephen Finch, instructor, SkillTrain, Ohio County This past spring and summer, Daviess County’s

SkillTrain took a hard look at our program model – including the way we scheduled student orientations and classes. After a Trainstorming session with Missy and much ensuing discussion, we decided to move from a model

that allowed students to start classes at basically anytime to a more managed model that features one week of Orientation, Testing and Tutoring (OTT Week) followed by a 4-week class session. We only started using this new model in August, but we’re pleased with the results so far!

There was some concern among our staff that not providing weekly orientations would be a barrier for potential new students. We’ve not seen this. While we don’t have exact data from last year, we do know that we had – on average – 4 students/week attend orientation. In a 5-week period with 4 students/week, then, we generally saw about 20 new GED® students per month. In

September 2016, we had 31 students attend orientation sessions. That is about a 50% increase in the number of students completing orientation. This may well be due in part to other factors as well (including the start-of-the-school-year motivation that generally boosts fall enrollment numbers), but given that

some of our staff was concerned about students not having enough access to our programs with the new model and to our numbers shrinking, we are pleased.

Obviously we are in the early stages of these shifts, and aside from changing our model, we’ve implemented other new strategies around student retention, so it’s not possible to draw any definite conclusions from this yet. We are very pleased with the results so far, though, and hope to continue to improve our programs for student success!- Lindsey Kafer, program director, SkillTrain – Daviess,

McLean, Ohio counties

What is an Implementation Guidance Letter –and why is it important?

As KYAE staff members encounter new Implementation Guidelines-related issues that arise over the next few months, Implementation Guidance Letters to address these issues will be distributed.

The content of these letters, which will initially be sent via e-mail, carries the same weight as the content in the KYAE Implementation Guidelines and should be adhered to in the same manner as the guide itself.

All information shared in Implementation Guidance Letters will be posted on KAERS under the State Resources, along with other KYAE documentation.

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KYAE welcomes new staff memberJanet Slayden

has joined KYAE’s administrative leadership team as an associate serving Area 4 (EKCEP and Lake Cumberland WIB areas).

Janet, who has been a Kentucky adult educator for more than 10 years, comes to KYAE from the Carlisle County Adult Education program (West Kentucky Educational

Cooperative), where she served as program coordinator and lead instructor. Previous roles in adult education were manager/adult education specialist in Graves County, adult education specialist/success coach for AOKY at WKCTC and program coordinator/lead instructor in Hickman County.

Janet, who enjoys singing, reading and spending time with her fur children (Sophie, Patsy and Smokie Lee Jones), says, “Kentucky Adult Education is a nationally recognized leader of policy, as well as their forward-thinking approach in implementing the college and career readiness standards. I am grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to KYAE’s fine reputation, particularly through my work assisting local programs.”

Jefferson County AE ELL coordinator receives Teacher of Excellence Award

Celeste Goodwin, ELL coordinator for Jefferson County Public Schools Adult Education (JCPSAE), recently received a Hilliard Lyons University of Louisville Teacher of Excellence Award. The award, bestowed to Celeste in May, was established by Hilliard Lyons to honor a Jefferson County Public School teacher who is a graduate of the University of Louisville graduate school and is innovative in the classroom. As the winner, Celeste received $1,000 to support programs or projects in the classroom.

Celeste began her work as a full-time ESL instructor with JCPSAE in 2001. In 2008, she was promoted to ESL coordinator; however, she continues to actively teach in the program. The JCPSAE ELL program represents students from more than 90 countries, speaking more than 40 different languages. Celeste’s nomination for the award

Celeste Goodwin is joined by Governor Matt Bevin at the Hilliard Lyons 2016 Excellence Awards celebration.

Reecie D. Stagnolia, vice president for adult education, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, is the new chair-elect of the National Council of State Directors of Adult Education (NCSDAE) Executive Committee.

Elected by his peers, Stagnolia will serve a four-year term that includes one year as chair-elect, two years as chair and one year as past chair.

“It is truly an honor to represent the Commonwealth, the Council on Postsecondary Education and our Kentucky Adult Education system at the national level. I am humbled by my peers’ confidence in my abilities to provide leadership at this level,” said Stagnolia.

Stagnolia has previously served in this leadership role, with an earlier stint from 2010-2014. His other prior involvement includes serving on the Policy Committee since 2002 and four terms as a member of the Executive Committee.

Stagnolia began his career in adult education in 1993 and was appointed vice president for adult education with CPE in 2009.

In addition to his work with NCSDAE, Stagnolia serves as a member of the executive committee of the National Adult Education Professional Development, as well as the Kentucky Workforce Investment Board and the Cabinet for Economic Development’s Bluegrass State Skills Corporation Board of Directors, both as proxy for the president of the Council on Postsecondary Education. He is also a member of the Office of Career Technical and Adult Education Technical Work Group for the National Reporting Systems.

Based in Washington, D.C., the NCSDAE represents the state directors of adult education in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the territories.

says, “Goodwin possesses an exceptional ability to combine such a diverse student population, creating a microcosm in each classroom. These students benefit from the sense of community that is fashioned from such a distinctive instructional setting.”

Stagnolia to lead national adult education group

KYAE News to Use October 20165

P Check It Out!

College and Career Readiness Standards-in-Action (CCR SIA) pilot comes to a close

KYAE would like to thank the instructors who participated in OCTAE’s latest Standards-in-Action pilot program over the past 18 months for once again enabling Kentucky to shine in the national spotlight for adult education.

KYAE’s state team – Gayle Box, Dawn Hanzel, Lori Looney, Tessa Love and Cristina Marsh – attended two workshops in Washington, D.C. with state teams from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. Participating states were given tools to aid in evaluating resources, planning lessons, examining student assignments and observing instruction related to the demands of the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS).

Instructors in the 12 JCTC and KEDC counties used and adapted the CCR SIA tools to better understand and implement the CCRS Key Advances, also called Key Shifts, in their instruction. This work was supported by national coaches who were consistently impressed by the positive attitude and dedication of our instructors. Outcomes of the pilot include:

• An updated Standards-Based Instruction (SBI) KYAE webpage, featuring

o revised lesson planning templates and guides,

o a section with materials for understanding the Key Shifts, and

o CCR-specific SIA materials;• The 2017 EMPower Plus pilot; • The KYAE Curriculum Writing Teams; • Math 4 Adult Educators workshops with the

Kentucky Center for Mathematics; • The inclusion of the Key Advances (Shifts) in all

RLA and mathematics professional development; and

• NCFL’s work to revise the Putting It All Together online course for new instructors, to be released in 2017-18.An instructor from the Elliott County program says

about the CCR SIA pilot, “The time and information shared has been invaluable.”

VOTE TODAY! Garrard County AE instructor nominated for award

A media project by Catherine Beechie, lead instructor for Garrard County Adult Education, has been nominated for a 2016 eCaps (e-Campus) Award. Her video, created during the Online Course Development and Teaching Certificate Program, was selected from more than 90 projects as one of the top three. The eight-week program is hosted by the Eastern Kentucky University Instructional Design Center; all award nominees participated in the program at some point during the year.

Voting for the award will end on October 16; the awards ceremony will be held on December 1.

To watch – and vote for – Catherine’s instructional and engaging video on the history of the equal sign, click here.

PActive Learning in Adult Numeracy Videos This series of videos, taken from a 2014 Steve Hinds’ workshop on Functions, could transform your math class. Steve is returning to Kentucky this year and offering two institutes for KYAE math instructors – Algebra and Functions and Geometry and Measurement. Be sure to read Steve’s essay on the content of each video; he offers some wonderful insights for teaching adults. Go to KET’s PBS Learning Media to access these materials.

PWorkforce and Innovation Act (WIOA) Resources Are you curious about the new WIOA Act? An entire page devoted to WIOA can be found on the KYAE website. Visit http://www.kyae.ky.gov/educators/wioa.htm to learn the latest.

Catherine Beechie, lead instructor for Garrard County Adult Education, describes how Robert Recorde, creator of the equal sign, was a bit of a rebel.